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Burning Hammer of the Wrestling Gods
Burning Hammer of the Wrestling Gods is a Japanese promotion founded in 1966, and remains one of the largest promotions in the country. However, it has lost some of its prestige since the rise of Pride Glory Honor Wrestling and the mixed martial arts scandal that saw it eliminate its Hybrid wrestling style and the subsequent loss of four of its top workers. History The Beginning BHOTWG was founded in 1966, during a period of wrestling revival in Japan. Six years earlier, Golden Canvas Grappling was founded as the first Japanese professional wrestling organization in existence since 1933, and made tremendous strides to redeem the sport in the eyes of the public since the disgraceful closing of its predecessor, Giant Pro Wrestling. Like GCG, BHOTWG presented wrestling as a serious, competitive sport, and both Japanese promotions enjoyed great critical and financial success. Pulling Away: The Elemental Era Throughout the 1960's and into the early 1970's, GCG and BHOTWG remained on relatively equal footing as competitors, with each promotion enjoying brief runs as the dominant wrestling company in Japan. However, two stars eventually emerged to give BHOTWG the competitive edge. The first was Master Kitozon, at the time considered the most famous wrestler in Japan. The second was a young, masked wrestler known as Elemental, who burst onto the scene in 1973. Elemental was the first junior wrestler to truly gain national prominence, as he brought high-flying moves never before seen in the junior division or anywhere else into BHOTWG. Kitozon and Elemental transcended the wrestling business, and went on to become national icons. Despite the death of Master Kitozon at only 59 years old, BHOTWG became the premier Japanese wrestling federation practically unopposed due to the poor business decisions of new GCG owner Hanshiro Furusawa. While GCG nearly folded due to its financial distress, BHOTWG built up an impressive roster that established it as the dominant force in Japanese wrestling. PGHW and the INSPIRE Crisis The first true challenge to BHOTWG since the 1970's occurred in 1996 with the advent of Pride Glory Honor Wrestling. PGHW brought an impressive roster and a style grounded in pure wrestling ability, with all the bells and whistles of professional wrestling stripped away. To distinguish itself, BHOTWG shifted its focus to Hybrid-style wrestling, in which many of its superstars relied on a style reminiscent of mixed martial arts to give the matches a hard, realistic look. Like PGHW, colorful characters and complicated storylines were eschewed in favor of giving the promotion a realistic feel reminiscent of an MMA show. In 2006, two deaths in Japanese mixed martial arts promotions cast intense scrutiny on that sport. With MMA now under a microscope, BHOTWG owner Kanie Komine decided to reinstate the traditional wrestling style the company once relied upon, and instructed his wrestlers to downplay any MMA backgrounds and avoid the use of MMA moves in their matches. For five wrestlers, Tadiyuki Kikkawa, Masaaki Okazaki, Raul Hughes, Mike Watson and Tasuku Iesada, each legitimate shoot fighters and trained mixed martial artists, this directive did not sit well. An argument with Komine saw all five quit the promotion to start their own MMA-inspired organization, Inspire Diversity Group International. The loss of these five wrestlers, who until that point comprised the nucleus of the BHOTWG main event, was a tremendous blow to the company. While INSPIRE has not had enough shows to truly compete on a national level, and GCG has yet to recover from Furusawa's financial blunders, BHOTWG has now been arguably matched or even overtaken by PGHW as the number one wrestling company in Japan. Basic Information * Founded: 1966 * Founder: * Location: Honshu (Japan) * Size: National * Prestige: 100% (A*) * Money: $15,000,000 Current title holders Staff * Owner: Kanie Komine * Head Booker: Haruki Kudo Announcers Roster Category:Promotions